The Northern Exodus

Summer had just begun officially. I mean, astronomically. Today, June 22nd, at precisely at 4:14am CDT of the year 2022 AD. We live in our little house, a bungalow, in this city called Victoria, in Texas. I love the heat and I love summer here. Temperatures fairly close or above 90 degrees on average during this season. My wife, Rebecca, she prefers the cooler weather though. She is after all born and raised in St-Paul, Minnesota. I am from Dallas, Texas. I’ve always lived in the warmer weather all my life.

I work mostly from home, as a fictional author. I adore my job. My wife would say that I am married to my work, my books, my stories, my characters…maybe I do. My wife, Rebecca, she is a high school math teacher. She has lots of patience with teenagers. We have no kids, yet, but when we will, I know she will make a great mom. She has great skills to deal with kids.

Six months ago, something happened. What happened? We honestly have no clue! Our government has mentioned to us that we cannot leave the house to venture outside as we wish. We have specific times set up on when we can leave the house and for how long, depending on our zip codes. We have the army monitoring the population with the help of local authorities. We were told that we can catch this disease and possibly die from it. Personally, I have not heard anyone from my neighborhood that were victim of this illness, nor from friends and family members. The population is afraid and nobody wants to risk it because you never know, right? On the news, they mentioned a virus that was airborne coming from an unknown source. We could see daily reports of people dying and infected by it. This was only fancy charts and graphs. Numbers seems to gradually rising every day. This unique event seemed to be affecting only in the USA. 

As an author, I can work from anywhere, as long as I have a laptop or a computer. As for my wife, she was stuck working from home from her laptop to teach her students. It was a real challenge at first. After a few weeks, she got used to it. No matter what, teachers don’t have it easy. I salute to all the teachers out there, including my wife. 

The school year has just ended with the beginning of the summer season. Rebecca was completing the correction of the final exams for her students. I was about to start a new novel. I am still looking for a title. It will be fiction for sure. A thriller maybe… 

Today it was our zip code that was allowed to go out for only five hours. Otherwise, hefty fines were given and in some cases imprisonment. For me, during this crisis, going out, was only for groceries and to buy essential goods. Rebecca and myself, we have diminished our spending on clothes. We were both working from home. There was no social gathering as in the past. We did not need to impress any friends or family member. 

My neighbor, Henry, a widow, without kids, has been living a few yards away from my house for over thirty-five years. He was about eighty-five years old. A very good man, a good neighbor and a great listener. I knew that he had ceased driving for a few years now due to health reasons. Before leaving for my errands, I would always ask him if he needed anything important. Knowing that he can’t go far. And, now, with this event, I could not ignore him. So today, I went to knock on his front door. No answer. I rang the doorbell. No answer. I called from my cell phone. No answer. This was odd. I never saw him leaving the house since the health crisis. I guess he is taking a nap or is outside.

Rebecca gave me a list for the groceries. Usually, for this type of errand, only one of us would go outside. For some reason, the neighborhood seemed so quiet today. More than usual. I did not see any army vehicle patrolling today. Before I leave, I always tell her to lock the door and to not let enter anyone until I return home. I took out my Mustang which lately has been idler than active since this crisis. 

I reach my destination within ten minutes. Usually this trip would take me between fifteen to twenty minutes to get at this supermarket. I did not see any cars on the roads. So bizarre. The parking lot is empty. I walk to the entrance of the supermarket. The sliding doors opened automatically. As I enter the place, I see nobody. Not a soul to see or hear. I can hear the powerful air conditioner running at full blast. I felt happy that there was nobody and that I had access to the whole floor for myself. Even the staff was not present. Now, I am worried. I mean, what is going on? I still go through the list that Rebecca gave me. I walk with my shopping cart to the cashier area. I leave some bills. I was not here to steal. I calculated the sum of my purchases and I paid more than less because I did not have the exact change on me.

I leave the supermarket. Get into my Mustang. Drive back home. I park the car in the driveway. Rush into the house. 

‘’Rebecca!!! I am home! Where are you? Something is wrong. I went to the groceries and there was nobody inside. Not even the staff. The roads were empty. There is something bad going on! Rebecca??? Where are you???’’.

I am checking all the rooms in the houses, including the basement. She is nowhere to be found. Not even in the backyard. I check my phone if she called me or texted me. Nothing! My heart is racing now…

I see a note on the kitchen counter top. It mentioned that government officials came by and took her away because the situation was getting worse. The note was brief. She wrote it in an eligible handwriting. It says, join me in Winnipeg, Manitoba. That only the cold can kill it. We hope…

I check my smartphone again. No signal. The Internet is down. Television set has no signal…

What is going on??? Everything seemed fined a few hours ago…

I pack my things in my car. No time to waste. I have been on road trips from Texas to Minnesota. That is almost a twenty-four-hour drive. Manitoba is just up north to Minnesota. This is over 4,000 miles of distance. I am going to pack some food, some clothes, my laptop and whatever thing that can be useful.

I step outside the house, lock the door. As I am walking to my car, I see from about 300 feet, a human horde. Not sure how many, but then seem like walking towards me, at a steady pace. Their faces with no expression. Alive but walking like a dead… This is a nightmare come true. I don’t even want to say the word. Could it really be z word??? I don’t want to say it…

I see now more cars driving like if it was a F1 race vehicle going to the north direction. That’s it. No time to waste time. Let’s drive away. I throw all my stuff in the trunk of my car and some on the back seat. My key in the ignition. Let’s go! Turn the key and the engine is not starting!!! No way! Not at this time! It seems I am out of fuel. This is not the sound of a battery, starter or alternator issue. Yes, it is the fuel! I have been driving much less that filling the gas tank was no longer a reflex.

I see a tank flagged was from the US army. Right in front of my house. I guess he saw me. 

‘’Sir, have car problems?’’, the military officer yells out.

‘’I am Sir.’’, I scream out loud.

‘’Would you like to join me? You got no choice and safety is a big concern at this point. I am headed north to Canada. Manitoba. To Winnipeg to be more precise. These bastard creatures seem to slow down in the cold. At this point, no confirmation. Just a theory. We waited too long to alert the population. We did not want people to go in panic mode. I guess that is too late now…’’, says the officer.

’Yes Sir. I am in. Let me grad a few essential items from my car’’, I say.

Honestly, I never felt so happy to be inside a tank in this situation. I hope Rebecca is safe and that I will meet her in Winnipeg. The other big problem. Summer just started. The real cold will settle in only in six months. Hope the cold will help us or that Canada has better safety measures.

I think I have time to start typing my novel and maybe get a story out of all these recent events. My imagination will figure out something. The title of my next novel will be The Northern Exodus.